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Gene Hunt
Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt (1934-1953 onwards) is a fictional character in BBC One's science fiction/police procedural drama, Life on Mars and its spinoff Ashes to Ashes. The character is portrayed by actor Philip Glenister. Famous for his quirks and attitude, he has been dubbed an sex symbol and a British TV hero. Three official books have been dedicated to and by him including The Rules of Modern Policing, The Future of Modern Policing (both written in the persona of Hunt) and The Wit and Wisdom of DCI Gene Hunt. Biography Background D.C.I. Gene Hunt was the brutal, self-important superior officer of the Stopford House police station A Division CID in 1973. In 1980, he transferred to Fenchurch East police station in London with his colleagues. In reality, he was a young police constable in 1953 who was shot and awoke in the early 1960s in the supernatural world he later referred to as Gene Hunt's Kingdom. Early Life )]] Gene Hunt was born in 1934 in the south of the county of Lancashire (which today is the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester). His childhood was very harsh because his father was an abusive drinker who often beat him and his older brother Stuart due to a "harsh Lancastrian upbringing". As a teenager, he discovered that his brother was a drug addict whom Hunt attempted to reform him until he ran away from his family and was never seen from again. At the age of seventeen, he performed his National Service until joining the police two years later. In 1953. At the age of nineteen, Hunt became a Police Constable (presumably for the Lancashire Constabulary) under PC Morrison who became his mentor and superior officer. ([[Series 3: Episode 8 (Ashes to Ashes)|A2A Series 3: Episode 8]]) Death During the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953 on his first week on patrol as a constable, Hunt, Morrison and their colleagues were celebrating in a desolate house in Farringfield Green near the town of Horwich. When one of his colleagues gave PC Morrison whisky, he became inebriated and left the house with his colleagues except Hunt to celebrate with the local villagers. When Hunt was on his own, he heard a noise from another room and assumed some young people had broken in so he decided to investigate. As Hunt entered the room, he kicked the door open and was shot in the head by an unknown man with a shotgun (who presumably was the real owner of the house). To hide the evidence, his body along with his uniform and his warrant card were buried in a shallow grave beside a scarecrow and the man who killed Hunt fled the area. Gene Hunt's body was not discovered until 2008 by some travellers in the area. ([[Series 3: Episode 8 (Ashes to Ashes)|A2A Series 3: Episode 8]]) Gene Hunt's World Following his death, Hunt awoke in the supernatural world known as "Gene Hunt's World" on the same year as his death. For 30 years, he forgot about his death by drowning it with alcohol ([[Series 3: Episode 8 (Ashes to Ashes)|A2A Series 3: Episode 8]]). Eventually, he joined the Manchester City Police (which merged into the Manchester and Salford Police in 1968) where as a young Manchester Constable, he worked with Harry Outhwaite - a legendary D-Day veteran who was accepting bribes from a local gangster. Seeing it was the right thing to do, Hunt reported Outhwaite to his superior officers which resulted in Outhwaite's suicide due to humiliation and Hunt losing his reputation. A month later, he accepted his own bribe which he deeply regretted ([[Series 1: Episode 4 (Life on Mars)|LOM Series 1: Episode 4]]). Prior to 1968, he entered a relationship with an unnamed woman and married her. In 1968, when the Manchester and Salford Police was formed, Hunt was promoted to Detective Inspector and transferred to A Division CID of the Stopford House police station under DCI Harry Woolf who became his mentor. Before Tyler's arrival in 1973, Hunt was promoted to Detective Chief Inspector by Woolf (who had been promoted to Detective Superintendent) ([[Series 2: Episode 1 (Life on Mars)|LOM Series 2: Episode 1]]). As the archangel of his own "kingdom", he was joined by DS Ray Carling, DC Chris Skelton, WPC Annie Cartwright and several other police officers who had been killed in the near future whom he would help reach "the pub". ([[Series 3: Episode 8 (Ashes to Ashes)|A2A Series 3: Episode 8]]) Life in 1973 As the Detective Chief Inspector of Manchester's CID, Hunt is respected by the subordinate members of his team. When DI Sam Tyler arrives at the CID in the first episode of the series, Hunt is quick to make it clear that he is Tyler's superior. He demonstrates his willingness to accept bribes from criminals - a practice which he continues until local crime boss Stephen Warren murders a girl for helping Tyler in episode "Conflict of Interest". In episode 2 of the show's second series, it is discovered that Hunt's mentor Harry Woolfe is corrupt and was the mastermind behind several robberies. Hunt, despite his fierce loyalty, brings down Woolfe. Although Hunt's method of policing is brutal at times, he is very clear as to how far the police can go. He is initially disdainful of female police officers, however accepts WPC Annie Cartwright into the CID in the second series, and learns to value her input. Hunt's major rivals in the police force are DCI Litton (Lee Ross) of the Regional Crime Squad, and DCI Frank Morgan (Ralph Brown), who replaces Hunt when he is accused of killing a man in series 2, episode 7. In the show's final episode, Morgan goes so far as to set up Hunt and his team to confront train robbers without arranging the promised backup, in the hope of eliminating Hunt by killing him. The 1980s It is revealed in the first episode of Ashes to Ashes, "Deja Vu" that, following the events of Life on Mars, Hunt worked with Tyler for another seven years before Tyler's apparent death during a high-speed pursuit. Shortly thereafter, Hunt transferred out of the Greater Manchester Police, to the Metropolitan Police Service, alongside Detective Sergeant Ray Carling and Detective Constable Chris Skelton. Set in 1981, Ashes to Ashes sees Hunt divorced, and having replaced his trademark Cortina with an imported Audi Quattro. Hunt remains as determined as ever to crack down on crime in his area, but has become somewhat more professional in his behaviour, secure in his authority and organised in his approach since the 1970s. He has embraced some aspects of modern policing, but is convinced that old-school policing methods are on their way to being excised from the force, along with the officers who still practice them. Hunt meets Alex Drake during a police drugs raid on a party, unaware that she, like Tyler, has traveled into his time line from the future. Believing her to be a prostitute, he takes her in for questioning, only to discover that she is his new Detective Inspector. It later transpires that Hunt was the officer who took Drake's hand when she was a child, following her parents death from a bomb explosion, leading Drake to believe that Hunt may in fact be real, rather than a figment of her imagination. In the last episode of Ashes to Ashes it is revealed that he was shot in 1953 on his first day as a policeman. It is he who was the young pc that Alex Drake has visions of. After 1983 . ([[Series 3: Episode 8 (Ashes to Ashes)|A2A Series 3: Episode 8]])]] Following the departure of his former colleagues, Hunt returned to his office in Fenchurch where he was immediately approached by a New Arrival who had died in the year 2009. Presumably, he worked alongside Hunt as his Detective Inspector just as Tyler did in 1973. In 2008, shortly before the death of Alex Drake, the body of the young PC Hunt was discovered by some travellers at Farringfield Green ([[Series 3: Episode 1 (Ashes to Ashes)|A2A Series 3: Episode 1]]). By the year 2009, Hunt was not present at Fenchurch East CID nor Stopford House in Manchester which suggests that either he had been transferred to a third police station, he was not recognised by the arrival as a younger man or he may have entered "the pub" prior to 2009. ([[Series 3: Episode 8 (Ashes to Ashes)|A2A Series 3: Episode 8]]) Behind the Scenes Bantam Press have published two books written from the in-character perspective of Hunt; The Rules of Modern Policing, and The Future of Modern Policing. The character is portrayed as a "politically incorrect chauvinist" who has no qualm with using violent tactics in order to get a result. He has a love/hate relationship with Sam Tyler (John Simm) and Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes), the lead protagonists of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes respectively, whilst commanding fierce loyalty from his Detective Constables, Ray Carling (Dean Andrews) and Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster). The character received much critical and public acclaim for his role in Life on Mars, being dubbed both a "national hero" and an unlikely sex symbol, as well as voted Britain's favourite TV hero. Ashes to Ashes provoked more negative reviews, with accusations of repetition of material, alongside mounting concern that Hunt's bigoted ideals made him a "pin-up boy for the Daily Mail". Key Life Events *Born in 1934 *Killed by a man with a shotgun on Coronation Day, 1953 *Awakes in Gene Hunt's World on same year. ([[Series 3: Episode 8 (Ashes to Ashes)|A2A Series 3: Episode 8]]) *Joins the Manchester City Police *Reports Harry Outhwaite and results in his suicide. ([[Series 1: Episode 4 (Life on Mars)|LOM Series 1: Episode 4]]) *Transfers to the Manchester and Salford Police under Harry Woolf in 1968 ([[Series 2: Episode 1 (Life on Mars)|LOM Series 2: Episode 1]]) *Promotes to DCI prior to 1973 *Joined by Sam Tyler in 1973. ([[Series 1: Episode 1 (Life on Mars)|LOM Series 1: Episode 1]]) Category:Ashes to Ashes characters Category:Life on Mars (UK) characters